Delivering reviews of new food products and restaurants of the North Somerset (Weston-Super-Mare) area.

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Beefeater Spring Menu 2017 (with Pictures)

ANOTHER early releasing Spring Menu came in the form of Beefeater’s. Again it was geared towards the Best of British in a Brexit themed menu, although some of the choices do leave you questioning what Beefeater think is British. It’s also getting harder to justify spending your money here. The prices are still increasing with more meals edging towards the £20 mark with the portion sizes only getting smaller if anything and a tenner will get you very little unfortunately. All pictures, unless otherwise stated, were taken at The Pavilion in Weston-Super-Mare and this post will get updated when we try more dishes.

Starters

To celebrate our love of Fish & Chips, Beefeater have released a gourmet style Fish Trio. On the plate you get three battered/breaded mouthfuls sitting on an interestingly coloured sea of Mushy Peas and Mint Mayo. There’s a Fish ‘n’ Chip Croquette which has that heaviness you expect and also has Mushy Peas inside. There’s a salty taste from the Fish but there’s not really any other flavour to it, the Mushy Peas do add a differing texture. There’s also a Smoked Haddock & Cheddar Fishcake which has a bit of a salty burn to it. The Cheddar doesn’t do an awful lot other than make a stringy tail when splitting the bite which appetises the eye but not much else. The finishing piece is the Cod and Crab Bite which is probably a bit too small to really get a taste of its flavour. The Cod also overpowers the Crab so you couldn’t definitely say that that is what is was meant to be. Seafood is always a bit more expensive than other options but with this dish being nearly £7, what you get on the plate really isn’t enough. Price: £6.79.

Sharers

For something a little cooler that gives you a slight picnic feel, Beefeater’s new Deli Sharing Platter may be worth a try. Again this dish is about the best of British and some of this meal’s contents may raise a few eyebrows. It slightly resembles a Ploughman’s with a collection of Somerset Brie, a Cheese of French origin, Stilton and Cheddar and some British dry-cured Ham. All good Ploughman’s have to have a Pork Pie and this one comes with a slightly dry but nice one. There’s some Red Onion Marmalade to give things a bit of a sweeter taste to them or some Brown sauce to really tingle those tastebuds. Although Salami is of Italian origin, this platter comes with some Cumberland Salami and Norfolk Mustard Salami which gives you a bit of a kick. But the Italian feel continues with slices of crusty, floury Ciabatta and things also take a turn for the Mediterranean, because we’re always saying how Britain feels like being in the Med, with the nice selection of Greek Feta and Olives. As a dish this is a really nice, different sharing platter. There’s a lot going on with loads of different flavours and textures. The only problem with this dish is that it’s supposed to be celebrating all things British and there’s a clearly a lot of non-British elements here which feels a bit like false advertising. But this is a contender for best new dish on the menu. Price: £12.79.

Mains

The most expensive new item on the menu is really hard to justify buying, even though it’s really rather nice. At over £20, it cannot be seen as a reasonable dish on a chained restaurant’s menu especially with the portion size. Being Beefeater, their signature new dish had to be beefy and it comes in the form of a Beef Fillet Stack. You get a juicy 8oz Steak cooked to how you like and on top sits some oozing, gooey slices of Brie. With the Brie melting all over the Steak, there’s no need for sauce or anything and this really goes down nicely and full of flavour. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also some Bacon and a Tomato to add yet more flavour to this dish. Underneath the Steak is a bed of creamed Spinach. Even this is actually quite flavourful with a hint of Garlic. Instead of Chips, this meal is completed by crispy slices of Potato to give you more of a gourmet feel. Despite this being really nice, it’s just not big enough to justify spending over £20 on this. Price: £21.99.